1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus that creates and searches tor photo book data, a control method therefor, and a computer-readable medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As digital cameras are now widely used and computer and network technologies have developed, photo books are more frequently created on personal computers to which digital data is submitted. In many cases photo books are created with dedicated editors, and devices for saving time and effort for creation have been made.
For example, as a device for creating a photo book with images taken when visiting sightseeing places, preparing in advance templates for shooting scenes is conceivable (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-246822). In a sightseeing place there are frequently visited shooting spots, where many people take images in a similar manner. Therefore, time and efforts for creating a photo book can be reduced by making templates for shooting scenes at those spots. In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-246822, a user selects a captured image, and then data of only templates relevant to the location where the image was taken is displayed. If a user selects the template data, only images corresponding to that template data are displayed.
However, in the conventional technique, a user has to take extra effort for editing, such as figuring out compositions or selecting shooting scenes every time he/she creates a new photo book. If templates can be made from the whole photo books and images can be automatically inserted, time and effort could be reduced. However, to reuse photo books as templates, a system for sharing such photo book templates is needed. In the case of simple sharing, it may be possible to share templates via a network once photo books are published on the Web.
However, even if templates are shared via a network, a user still has to take some time and effort to search for a desired one from a number of templates. Moreover, it is difficult for a user to determine just at a glance whether or not a template is one with which several images taken by the user can be inserted.